


Heirlooms & Rattles

by gaydemonium, Intangibel (duskbutterfly)



Series: The Babysitting Chronicles [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Baby Alec Lightwood, Domestic Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Established Relationship, Family Heirlooms, M/M, Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood First Meet, Malec
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-21
Updated: 2016-10-21
Packaged: 2018-08-23 19:03:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8339158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaydemonium/pseuds/gaydemonium, https://archiveofourown.org/users/duskbutterfly/pseuds/Intangibel
Summary: Alec felt like he’d opened hundreds of boxes and jewellery cases already, hunting for a precious Amulet Magnus needed for one of his spells when he stumbles across a box with the Lightwood family crest on it. Magnus has some explaining to do. “Magnus, why do you have a silver baby’s rattle with my name on it in a box with my father’s Parabatai bracelets?” Sequel to Gaydemonium's Babysitting Alec Lightwood but can be read independently.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by Gaydemonium's fic [Babysitting Alec Lightwood](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7731472) and acts as a sequel but can be read independently. Thanks so much for letting me add to your already awesome ideas with the headcanon that popped into my mind as soon as I read it <3

“Magnus are you sure the amethyst scarab of that Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh -,” Alec began.

“Hatshepsut? She was quite extraordinary you know -” Magnus said cutting in absentmindedly with the name Alec was looking for before Alec interrupted again impatiently.    

“Yeah, her. Are you sure it’s in this drawer because I’m finding lots of rubies and emeralds but nothing purple or beetle-like,” Alec said as he examined the contents of the drawer he’d been emptying, before carefully replacing each item into its corresponding box or tissue paper and then arranging them far more neatly than he’d found them.

“Perhaps the drawer above?” Magnus said, trying (and failing) to look apologetic as he raised his head from the Book of the White and the recipe of the incredibly complex potion he was being asked to make.

“I’ve tried that too,” Alec sighed, wishing Magnus was better at organising the treasures he’d amassed over the centuries, “I guess I’ll try the one below.”

The drawer Alec pulled out was deeper than he’d expected, having once again been tricked by Magnus’ ability defy physics, and contained significantly more dust than the previous one. Which, given Magnus claimed he hadn’t seen the scarab in over twenty-five years, was actually a promising sign that they might _finally_ have found the right drawer after trying close to ten others.  Alec carefully removed each item pausing to gently wipe away the dust with a cloth before setting it aside. He figured he may as well take everything out and give it a proper clean while he was here because at least that way he’d know what was there and would have more hope of finding it if he had to look for it again. At the very bottom of the box, there was an ornate wooden box with what looked like interlocked runes carved into its surface.  Intrigued, Alec ran his cloth over it trying to clean the dust off, wondering why it looked so familiar? As the dust parted Alec froze. In the centre of the carving was an elaborate family crest. The Lightwood family crest.

Alec glanced up at Magnus and seeing him still utterly engrossed in the Book of the White looked back at the box. He really wanted to open it. Magnus had given him permission to hunt through these drawers to find his precious scarab. Alec felt like he’d opened hundreds of boxes and jewellery cases already, but this felt different. He was pretty sure whatever was in this box wasn’t going to belong to an Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh, which meant he should put it back in the damn drawer and get on with the job he’d been given. He should leave well enough alone. But he couldn’t. He had to know what was in that box.

Having lost the battle with temptation Alec shifted his hands and tried to lift the lid and frowned when it didn’t move even a fraction. Frowning, Alec took a moment to study the box more closely and almost laughed when he saw it. Like the jewellery box their father had given Izzy on her sixteenth birthday, there was a sliding piece cleverly disguised in the woodwork which acted as a latch, preventing the box opening and in this case, it was the family crest. Smiling Alec pushed gently on the shield until he heard a click and tried again, relieved to see that there wasn’t any secondary mechanism at play and the lid opened easily at his touch. But one look inside wiped the smile right off his face.

Alec recognised the Parabatai bracelets instantly. He’d heard about them and been shown photographs of them all his life. The bracelets which would normally be passed down from father to son at the Parabatai ceremony, to be worn constantly until it was time to pass them on again to the next generation of Lightwood and their Parabatai. The ones his father had always regretted no longer having in the family but would never say exactly when or how they’d left the family, all he’d ever say was that it had been less than the person deserved as payment. What had Magnus done for his father that was worth more than the heirlooms that had been passed down through five generations of Lightwoods? As Alec put his hand into the box to lift up one of the bracelets his hand brushed over the soft fabric he’d assumed to be the box’s lining. The fabric shifted, partially revealing a silver object and Alec froze in shock for the second time that day.   

 

“Magnus, why do you have a silver baby’s rattle with my name on it in a box with my father’s Parabatai bracelets?” Alec asked, unable to keep his voice level as he lifted the tiny rattle from the box, fighting the urge to shiver when the beads rattled inside it as he held it up for Magnus to see.

“Ah. Yes. That’s a bit of a – strange story actually,” Magnus said looking genuinely nervous.

“So it is mine then?”

“Yes, Alexander, it is.” Magnus said, with a sigh as he set aside the spell book and came to came to sit beside Alec on the floor, “when you were almost two-years-old Valentine’s plan failed and when he got wind that some of his supporters were turning against him, he started hunting them down. Your parents, realising they didn’t have a lot of time, managed to grab you and escape but they needed somewhere safe to stash you while they made their deal with the Clave for sanctuary.”

“My parents asked you to babysit me?” Alec asked in astonishment. He would have said his mother would have chosen literally any other person on the planet over Magnus.

“Well, they didn’t have a lot of options, Alec,” Magnus said wearily, “there weren’t exactly any Shadowhunters they could ask now that Valentine’s plan had failed. There was a very real chance they would be stripped of their runes and outcast. So they brought you to the most powerful person they knew, the High Warlock of Brooklyn.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I can’t imagine you listing babysitting on your magical services registry,” Alec said, frowning as he tried to imagine just how that conversation had gone. To his relief, Magnus laughed.

“Oh, believe me, I wasn’t exactly keen on the idea to start with either but I made an exception.”

“For the Parabatai bracelets?” Alec asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well actually at the time your father simply told me that his family were rich and I would be handsomely rewarded for my assistance,” Magnus said with some of his usual flare, before sighing, “but if you must know, they were what your father offered me, along with the agreed on amount of gold, because he said it was the most valuable thing he had and he wanted me to understand how much protecting your life had meant to him.”

“Huh. Well that does sound like Dad I guess, he was always the more – demonstrative of our two parents,” Alec said, remembering the way his father had at least tried to be more supportive than his mother after the wedding fiasco.

“So where does the rattle come in? I really can’t see why you would have accepted that it can’t actually have any genuine value,” Alec asked, raising an eyebrow at the way Magnus was still twirling it absentmindedly in his fingers.

“I didn’t realise I even had it until well over a year after the whole affair, it must have rolled under the cabinet when you upended the bag your parents had packed for you trying to get to your bottle. But by the time I found it Maryse had gone back to her Clave fearing ways and was trying to pretend that no such association between us had never occurred,” Magnus said with justifiable bitterness.

“I still don’t get why you kept it? You could have just thrown it out if you weren’t going to give it back.”

“The thing is, each time I’ve met you you've had a startling effect on me, Alexander.” Magnus said with more intensity than Alec had expected, “So, no, I didn’t feel like I could just throw it out.”

“How'd spending a few hours with me as a baby change anything?” Alec asked his eye crinkling into that strange squinty expression he had when he didn’t really understand what was going on but wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer.

“You made me hope that one day I'd have a chance to have a family of my own. It’s something I’d never really thought about but there you were, this surprisingly endearing toddler who said ‘bop’ instead of 'bottle' and looked at me with such intelligence that I really did wonder if you could understand what I was saying to you. Even then I couldn’t bear to see you hurt when the Prince of Purrsia clawed you and you started crying –” 

“Hang-on. Where does the Prince of Persia come into this and why would he attack me?” Alec said sharply interrupting Magnus’ fond remembrances.

“Right, you’re parents apparently never told you about that either. Well, back then I used to have a cat and I called him the Prince of Purr-sia. I’m a fan of puns when it comes to naming my cats you see and when I left you to go and heat up your bottle you got into an altercation with him and when I rushed back to see what you were crying about I found you sitting there with his claw embedded in your chin. I healed it but it still scarred. Even then you fascinated by my magic you know.”

Alec couldn’t help the smile that tugged at one corner of his lips imagining a smaller version of himself transfixed by the beauty of Magnus’ blue magic without any understanding of the power he wielded or that it could ever be used as a weapon.  

“I had no idea that this adorable child was going to grow up into the gorgeous man who’d unlock my capacity to love again and who I’d want to spend the rest of my life with. But I think, with you sleeping curled up in my arms, I did start to realise just what I was missing out on by giving up love and resigning myself to never having a family.” 

Alec could hear the longing in Magnus’ voice, the pain when he spoke about his dream of having his own family and Alec’s heart ached for him. Reaching out he took Magnus’ hand squeezing it as his mind went around and around at the unfairness of someone as loving and loyal as Magnus not being able to have a family of his own. Which, now that Alec thought about it, was actually exactly the same for him. He’d always assumed he’d have a family of his own and he would have if he hadn’t defied the Clave and chosen Magnus instead of Lydia. It hurt to think that children were never going to be part of their life together – after all, Alec had loved the role he’d had in raising both Izzy and Max and he’d hoped…

“Well, you know, maybe we should work on that? Having a family, I mean,” Alec said suddenly, breaking the companionable silence that had fallen over them as they’d each gotten wrapped up in their thoughts of the past and the future.

“Alexander, I know Shadowhunters are sheltered but even _you_ must know between the two of us we're still missing an essential half of the equation to create a baby.”

Alec felt the heat bloom across his face and down his neck as embarrassment flooded through him and found himself fumbling his words, “I-I know, it’s – it’s just, well - I was thinking we could, you know, adopt? There's got to be young warlocks in need of parents, right? That's not just a mundane and Shadowhunter thing, is it?”

For a moment no one said anything. Alec tried desperately to figure out what Magnus’ stunned expression meant, wondering if he’d just somehow put his foot in it. Maybe orphan warlocks already had somewhere they could go to learn magic from people who actually had magic, unlike Shadowhunters. Or maybe Magnus didn’t want to adopt a warlock child. Or maybe Magnus didn’t actually want to adopt a child with Alec. Why did he have to ask that particular question now, before he’d had a chance to at least do some research? Sighing heavily Alec went to withdraw his hand from Magnus’ grasp figuring he may as well at least find that Scarab so he could put all of these things back in their boxes and forget about them again. 

But Magnus, instead of letting go, tightened his hold on Alec’s hand making Alec’s eyes snap to his. Alec was alarmed to see a sheen of tears in Magnus’ unglamoured eyes and opened his mouth to apologise but Magnus got in first.

“Alexander.”

The way Magnus said his name, with such vulnerability, made Alec start to think he might be the one to cry next. He just wished he understood what he’d done wrong.

“What did I do to deserve you?” Magnus asked in a whisper, one of his tears spilling over onto his cheek.

“We don’t have to – I just – I thought maybe it’d help, you know when – I’m not immortal Magnus and no matter how much I don’t want to think about that, maybe it would help if we both knew that by having a family there’d be someone who’d always be there for you, even when I’m gone.” Alec said quietly, using his thumb to catch Magnus’ tears which now fell in earnest, “but if you don’t want to, that’s okay too.”

“Don’t want to?” Magnus asked in confusion before grabbing Alec and hauling him onto his lap, “silly Nephilim, I want to have a family with you.” Magnus pressed a quick hard kiss to Alec’s lips, taking advantage of his gasp of surprise to deepen the kiss.    

When, at last, Alec pulled back Magnus almost laughed at the perplexed expression which twisted his thoroughly kissed lips into a frown.

“But - then why were you crying?”

“Remember what I told you about my mother and step-father?” Magnus asked, waiting until Alec nodded before he continued, “that’s not an unusual story for my kind, Alec. Our conception is generally the result of deception and often worse and when the human mothers discover they have a child with uncontrollable powers? Well, few can cope. Then there are the demons who set out to create a warlock with the aim of raising and controlling it – well, that doesn’t tend to work out well either. So yes, Alexander, there are warlock orphans. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find a warlock that wasn’t an orphan. But unlike with Mundanes and Shadowhunters no-one ever actually steps forward asking to adopt them into their family, Alexander.”

“They should,” Alec said angrily, hating the thought of kids starting out life unwanted, “we should.”

Magnus smiled, loving Alec’s straightforwardness and his unbending moral principles, “It’s a dangerous job raising a warlock – are you sure that’s something you want to take on Alexander?”

“Well, I’m not going to be much help with teaching them about their powers but just because something’s hard doesn’t mean it isn’t the right thing to do. I love you so why shouldn’t I love a young warlock too? And, If we’re having a family, it makes sense to adopt at least one warlock, maybe a Shadowhunter too? I don’t know, how many kids were you thinking of?”

“Alexander!” Magnus said in a scandalised tone.

“What? We could just get one, that would be fine too,” Alec said shrugging with a grin.

“I love you, Alexander.” Magnus said, unable prevent himself from kissing him for another moment.

 


End file.
